Tombstone Unified School District officials evaluated themselves and found room for improvement. They reflected on the past school year and agreed on future changes.

The Jan. 24 meeting at the Walter J. Meyer Governing Board Room in Tombstone lasted more than two hours as board members discussed decisions they made concerning the district.

“If you don’t know what you are doing wrong or what you are doing right, there is no way for you to progress,” said TUSD Superintendent Karl Uterhardt. “That is why the evaluation is important and this is how the board gets better.”

The state-required evaluations had to be completed by Oct. 30, 2011, However, the board acquired four new members a little more than a year ago, so members decided to postpone the evaluation until the all members had served a full year, according to Uterhardt.

“We are a little late for it this time but we hope to conduct the next one on time either next October or November,” Uterhardt said.

During the evaluation, they discussed introducing new programs to Tombstone High School, financial responsibility and the possibly of conducting work sessions in Huachuca City.

When evaluating the board’s relationship with the community, members scored their work as satisfactory.

“People don’t work this district for pay,” said Tom Yarborough, principal at Huachuca City Elementary School. “People work for the district because they love the community in Tombstone and Huachuca City. Frankly, that is why I have stayed.”

Members said they want to get the community more involved by possibly providing additional resources on the TUSD website, such as posting information about upcoming school events and updating the district’s policies to the site.

“We need an electronic version of a lot of things,” said Lillian Hritz, vice-president of the board. “We have changed several policies over the last year and need to get those updated.”

Board members also expressed some of their schools’ improvement over the last fall semester; specifically Tombstone High School’s increase in enrollment after adding programs like the ROTC this past August.

“In the last few years we have lost quite a few numbers in enrollment, so it is great to see those numbers turn back,” Yarborough said.

When talking about the financial management of schools, members want to investigate how the district uses its resources, especially when it comes to using electricity in vacant buildings owned by the district

“We shouldn’t be paying utilities for offices that are not in use,” said board member Joe Perotti. “When I go out walking and notice a light on in a building that hasn’t been utilized in months, I want to know who is using it.”

For example, board members have not been able to determine if TUSD employees are still using the offices at the school’s bus station.

“I went in the building myself the other week and it looked like no one had been there in months,” Uterhardt said.

The board also indicated an interest in providing work sessions for community members in Huachuca City who are unable to make the commute to Tombstone.

“I think that it is important that we hit all of our communities that we have kids in,” Uterhardt said. “It’s important within our district that we meet and people from those communities a chance to address the board which is why we try to have every other meeting in Huachuca City.”

The next TUSD board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 8, at 6:30 p.m. in the Huachuca City Library.